This invention relates to steam cooking utensils and in particular to such utensils wherein the flow of steam into the cooking bowl is controlled to provide even cooking for various types and sizes of food and the flow of food drippings from the bowl is controlled so that the drippings are collected in a drip tray.
The use of steam cooking utensils has grown in popularity in recent years due to the general health consciousness of the population. Foods cooked in steamers tend to maintain their nutrients. However, many commonly used and popular steam cooking utensils suffer from significant functional problems.
For example, some steam cooking utensils allow food juices or food drippings to return to the boiling water reservoir whereat the juices or drippings will be boiled again which emits foul odors and results in cleaning problems.
Steam cooking utensils which have attempted to solve the dripping problem have created other problems. For example, in one utensil design some of the steam vent holes used to provide steam to a cooking chamber have been blocked which results in uneven cooking of the food. Still other utensils have divided the boiling water reservoir into two parts, fresh and "dirty" portions. This results in the drippings being separated from the fresh water used to generate steam; however this system also produces unevenly cooked food due to poor steam circulation.
It is accordingly an object of this invention to provide a steam cooking utensil whereby the steam path is controlled to provide even cooking of the food and the flow of food drippings is also controlled to direct the drippings into a drip collection tray.